Monday, 29 February 2016

In line with the policy of e-governance and digital India,
the Government of India has focused its vision on digitizing transactions so as
to achieve transparency, competition and budget optimization. To this end, MSTC
is assisting in achieving the said objectives by creating a wide range of
e-bidding applications. MSTC has been in the business of digitizing
transactions since 2002 and has created awareness about the benefits of
e-bidding to many government departments and PSUs.

With the vision of have “POWER FOR ALL”
by 2019, the Ministry of Power embarked upon various ambitious projects in the
power sector in the right earnest. To begin with, MSTC was asked prepared a
e-bidding solution for allocation of subsidy to the Stranded gas based power
plants in India.
Ministry of Power allocated a Power Sector development fund to the tune of
7500-cr. A solution was devised that enabled Gas Based Power Plants to receive
this subsidy by an electronic bidding wherein the plants which could produce
the maximum units of electricity with minimum amount of subsidy would get priority.
4800 MW of idle power generating capacity has already been revived so far and
two more rounds of auctions will materialize in the next few months.

Earlier, MSTC conducted the first ever electronic Coal block allocation in India.
Coal mine allocation has already been the grandest and most successful
electronic event in the country. 70 coal mines have already been allocated to
various end users in private and government sector through online competitive
bidding method in a time bound, trouble-free and transparent manner. A total of
204 coal blocks will be allocated through e-Auction by MSTC Limited.

Chhattisgarh became the
first state on Thursday to successfully conclude the first phase of non-coal
mining auctions.

The state
government will get an additional Rs 4,413 crore over the life of lease in
addition to royalty, district mineral foundation, national mineral exploration
trust contributions, tweeted Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“Congratulations
to Chhattisgarh government and officials of mines ministry of the Indian
government for bumper success of mining lease auction done for the first time
in the country,” he said in another tweet.

Successful
completion of the auction process in one of the top mineral-rich states has
given relief to the central government, which was worried as the first phase
auctions saw an extremely slow start.

At the
start of 2015, the government was planning to complete the first phase auction
process of 80 odd mines by end-November. However, only four states had issued
notice inviting tenders for 27 mines till then as the states were hesitant from
inexperience in the auction process.

According
to the new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2015, state
governments have to auction their non-coal mineral mines through a two-tier
forward-bidding process. Before this Act, mines were handed out to miners on
discretionary basis by the state governments. Mineral auction rules under the
new mines Act state bidders will have to quote the percentage of the value of
the mineral dispatched from the mine in a month in the first round. The highest
initial price offer would be considered the floor price for the second round of
auction.

Subsequently,
the bidders would be ranked on the basis of the descending initial price offer
submitted by them. The first 50 per cent of the ranks, or the top five bidders,
whichever is higher, would be termed qualified bidders for participating in the
second round of e-auction.

The
second-round auction will follow the simple forward-bidding process, where the
bidder quoting the highest percentage would be deemed the winner.

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

The
government has asked public sector entity MSTC to create an e-auction platform
for fuel supply agreements that would be given out to non-power sector.The
platform, to begin with, will conduct e-auction for 24 million tonne of coal
for companies that do not have any supply contract from Coal India.

“We are
readying the platform that would be used to auction fuel supplies to non-power
sector,“ said S K Tripathi, chairman MSTC.

Eventually
government will also auction coal supply contracts for the power sector its
main client, however, it is not likely to happen before April
this year.

Last
week, the government declared that long term coal supply contract for sectors
like steel, ce ment, and aluminium, will be granted only through e-auctions.At
present existing coal supply contracts will continue but they would be
auctioned once these expires “The auction route will be followed for all future
contracts, once the existing fuel supply agreements lapse. Hence to start with
it would be about 24 million tonnes which would gradually increase as and when
supply agreements lapse,“ said Tripathi.

According
to reports the govern ment has drawn out the schedule for the e-auction the
exercise for which is likely to start in the next 710 days. The government is
targeting to hold the first set of auctions by April
end and has asked MSTC to prepare the portal for the e-auctions. Coal India has achieved a 9.8% growth in coal
production till January this financial and all power companies are flushed with
coal.This leaves Coal India
with the option of making sure it manages to sell all the coal it produces or
it may be forced to revise its production targets downwards. E-auction is
likely to help the company achieve its sales targets for the year which is
pegged at 550 million tonnes.

Coal India has been
allowed to sell 25% of its incremental coal production through e-auction which
would help it liquidate stocks and bring down inventory which has touched 40
million tonnes.

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Raipur, 07, February,2016: Shri Chhagan Lal Mundra,
Chairman, Chhatisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC),
inaugurated the workshop on MSTC e-Mall on 7th February, 2016 amidst the
fraternity of steel & sponge iron manufacturers at Raipur. He appreciated MSTC for organizing
such an event at Raipur
and termed the initiative taken by MSTC as an excellent opportunity for the
buyers and sellers of the state who deals in steel and steel related items. He
also assured his support to MSTC in the implementation of the ambitious project
of “Digital Chhattisgarh” on the foot steps of “Digital India” campaign.

The unique concept of e-Shopping
mall portal was highlighted for the online transaction for Sale & Purchase
of steel related bulk raw material, semi-finished goods and finished goods. The
portal provides single window solution for both seller and buyer for making
transaction starting from searching, comparing the products, selection of
product, and thus taking a most informed decision for the purchase by online
payment to taking delivery with availing logistics, all at one place.

The event commenced around 12:00noon with the Lightning of Lamp by ShriChhaganLalMundra,
the chief guest of the event. ShriB.B.Singh, Director (Commercial), MSTC
Ltd., welcomed all the dignitaries. In his welcome speech, he introduced MSTC
Ltd. having the robust e-Commerce platform and only e-Commerce Government
Company in the country, which is soon going to roll-out the e-Mall for B2B
segment for steel related items. He
further added that it is an unique idea for selling and buying experience of bulk
material and will offer a hassle free, and time efficient business transaction
along-with cost effectiveness. He stated that in future, the product range will
be increased to cater to the needs of buyers for various products in steel
sector.

The members of associations
actively participated in the interactive session where suggestions and feedback
made by them were taken into consideration by MSTC to enhance the efficacy of
the proposed portal. The concept and initiative taken by MSTC for e-mall was highly
applauded and appreciated by all the members present. The workshop was first of
its own kind in the state of Chhattisgarh and was a grand success being an
informative event for the participants.

MSTC Ltd., a Government of India
Enterprise, under the administrative control of Ministry of Steel, is already a
familiar and renowned name in the Chhattisgarh for its e-Commerce activities.
MSTC is involved in e-sale of ferrous & non-ferrous scrap, prime coal, rough
diamonds, chrome ore, lignite, ferro manganese, iron ore, property, etc. MSTC
is also associated with a mineral rich Chhattisgarh State Government for
auctioning of Mining Lease and Composite License for Non-Coal Mines.

The event was concluded with the
vote of thanks by ShriA.K.Basu, Director (Finance), MSTC
Ltd.